Foundation Stage 2 Blog

Just to let you know our new blogs are almost here! They are just being finalised and we will be ready to share some exciting updates later on next week.

One of the key changes is the ability for you to ‘follow’ your class blog. This means you will be sent an automatic message each time a new blog is posted, keeping you up-to-date with everything happening in school.

This year we are keen to start using our blogs in a slightly different way. Previously they have have been used to share special events taking place at school. We would now like to begin blogging more often and with a particular focus on your child’s learning and how you can work alongside us.

This would mean –

Class specific blogs

More regular updates

The ability to ‘follow’ a blog which means you would receive an alert to let you know when there has been an update

Interactive links to key songs/stories/websites that have been used in school

Increased opportunities for you to talk to your child and ask questions about their current learning

Over the half term holiday our blogs and website will undergo some changes so that we are ready to update you with everything we have been learning in school.

A huge thank you for your support in settling the children in to this new term…we will be back with a bang – celebrating firework night, Diwali and the countdown to Christmas begins!

Last Tuesday all of FS2 climbed aboard the big yellow coach as they headed off to Cassiobury Park in the sunshine.

What a fantastic day they had! Take a look at these smiling faces as the children played in the Splash Park, challenged themselves in the Playground and searched through the woods on a mini-beast hunt.

Another big thank you to all of the volunteers who make days like this possible – we couldn’t do it without you.

From the £1,400 spent by parents at our Book Fair in April we raised just over £800 in rewards to be spent on books for school. Here are the new books we’ve received this week. Due to the extremely tight budget this has been a huge help to us and has enabled us to update and replenish books in the library, in classrooms and to support our 1:1 Readit2 programme.

Kathryn Holt, a local storyteller, came to school on Monday – and look what happened!

We were left feeling incredibly inspired – staff and children were captivated by Kathryn’s interactive retelling of The Lion and The Mouse. There was song, rhythm and rhyme and lots of audience participation! From the photos you will see some of the stories children created in response to what they had heard. We are looking forward to welcoming Kathryn back to school on Monday 5th March to work across Year 1 and Year 2. To learn more about Kathryn or to go along to her regular storytelling sessions, follow this link.

Our Learning Hero Duck has been busy! Over the Christmas holidays and on the first day back at school delivered tricky maths challenges to each class!

Challenges involved making patterns, sharing and finding combinations that add to make a number. Year 2 solved magic boxes, Mitchell class went outside to solve the problem of getting from one end of the field to the other without letting their feet touch the floor! Churchill class made an estimation station where one child filled a bowl with dinosaurs and another child had to guess how many there were!

The Happy Puzzle company also came to visit and gave the children lots of puzzles to solve as a team in our school hall!

The children were encouraged to talk about the problems they encountered and find ways of overcoming these together (even when they were really tricky!)

Here are some quotes from the children following two fantastic days of being expert problem solvers just like Duck:

“We had to do teamwork and not give up like duck when solving the puzzles.” – Juliette

“I’m going to do a Duck challenge.” – James N

“It keeps going on and on. You can even put it in a circle and it’s still a pattern” – Anna taking part in a pattern challenge

“It gets harder and harder but I really like hard stuff.” – Maxime

“I like that it’s hard and it’s a challenge.” – Jojo

“I just like that we get to do tricky challenges.” – Sam

“You get to make puzzles.” – Kerr

“This one is the heavy one because there is rocks inside… Or maybe playdough.” – Grace

“Because you get to build a tower and this one is getting trickier and trickier!” – Aaryan

At lunchtime on Tuesday something very special happened. For the first time ever, each child from Verulam, Clarence and Heartwood Class invited one grown-up to come to school and learn about the lunchtime experience at Bernards Heath.

Our admin team welcomed our special visitors and gave out lunch bands so they knew what they were having for lunch.Children were excited when they arrived at the hall and met grown-ups who were sitting at the tables and chairs and wearing lunch bands just like them! Mums, Dads, Grandparents and special family friends queued with children to collect either chicken and rice or a jacket potato and chatted together while they ate.

Mrs Donagher and her team had worked really hard to make sure that everyone had something to eat and there were lots of compliments about the quality of the lunch served. The grown-ups helped pour water and children proudly showed their guests where to put their tray, cup and cutlery after they had finished eating. After lunch children and grown-ups went outside to play and when Mrs Williams squeaked the squeaker our children were very good at saying goodbye, going back to the classroom and settling back in to their afternoon of learning.

A big thank you to all the children, staff and parents who helped make this special lunchtime a great success!

Sports Day was a massive success! Thank you to all the staff who worked hard to organise such great events and to parents for making the time to come and watch. The real stars of the day were of course the children…

Clarence and Verulam started the events with an egg and spoon race where Verulam Class’ eggs looked like they may have been glued into place (Mr Wilson and Mrs Randall have assured us they weren’t!) Following that was an impressive obstacle race which involved getting a cup of water from one end of the field to the other, climbing over stepping stones and crawling under tables!

Next up were Heath and Heartwood, they exchanged the baton with skill and gave each other a well rehearsed high five during the hurdles. They too tackled the daring obstacle race with the winning team collecting 900ml of water between them.

All in attendance could not fail to notice the sheer joy on the faces on the children as they did their best in each event. When it came to the skipping race we saw a wide variety of techniques as the smiles turned to looks of pure concentration and determination. The crowd of spectators did a great job of encouraging and applauding our youngest athletes.

The afternoon involved a change of venue as we moved to the Heath. Year 1 and 2 had the opportunity to really gather speed as they sprinted from one cone to the other. Parents cheered whilst some got comfy on chairs and blankets. The expectations were raised for Year 1 and 2 and the afternoon finished with competitive sprints where 1st, 2nd and 3rd badges were awarded. Children were learning to win and lose and we were impressed with the incredible atmosphere of team spirit and good sportsmanship. One of our favourite quotes of the day came from a child in Year 1 who fell mid race, got up and ran for the finish line. It was all a bit overwhelming at the end of the race but when we chatted later she explained that she had thought of the Lion King when she had fallen, and in particular the bit where Simba got bumped on the head by the baboon and was told “Don’t worry about it, it’s in the past!” We were particularly impressed with this positive attitude and how it impacted on others who might have been feeling a bit disappointed about not winning their race.

Sports Day not only gave children the chance to show off what they can do physically, they also got the chance to stretch their personal, social and emotional muscles, building resilience and celebrating their best efforts whatever the outcome. We are all very proud.

We were so Proud to be announced as Primary School Champions in the St Albans Fun Run for the third year in a row. On Sunday 12th June we laced up our trainers, put on our red t-shirts and gathered by the Bernards Heath flags in the runner’s village in the park. At 10.15am we ran, jogged, raced, meandered and piggy backed our way along the 1.5 mile course. It was great to work in a team with our Junior School and to see children from Nursery to Year 6 running together and sharing words of encouragement. It was a hot day and some little legs got very tired; it didn’t stop us though and we remembered our Learning Hero Duck who never ever gives up in the face of tricky challenges!

Thank you to children, parents and staff for supporting this exciting event… see you there next year!